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Comment by conroe64 | Hacker News Reader

I tried Mark Rippletoe's program, and it didn't work for me. IMO, it worked my legs way too much. Squats 3 times a week? I went up in the beginning, but plateaued in a couple of months and then got the flu (and I rarely get sick). After a couple of weeks off, my legs were still sore. I tried to get back into it, but the constant pain and lack of progress finally made me give up.

Also, I don't understand why his routine is so lopsided as to favor the lower body.

Right now I'm doing Mike Mentzer's Heavy Duty routine, which after 3 months has been fantastic. It uses HIT principles, where you are only doing the minimum work necessary to stimulate the muscle. This translates to 1 set per exercise twice a week or so.

Check out http://boiseexperiment.com/HeavyDuty/?page_id=308 for a very detailed account of the results of doing such a workout.

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> Also, I don't understand why his routine is so lopsided as to favor the lower body.

Most of the muscle mass of the body is in the hips and legs.

If you dislike squatting frequently (personally, I luuuurve squatting), look up and try the Greyskull Linear Program (GSLP). Here's a handy summary: http://i.imgur.com/ADuFA.png

Are you sure you were eating enough? Eating more is almost always the answer to plateaus. Also squats are the best exercise for all-around strength, not just legs. Squatting more weight does wonders for other things like bench and overhead press.

I wasn't drinking a gallon of milk a day, as recommended by Rippletoe, although I was eating more. It gave me a big belly, gastrointestinal problems and gained about 10 lbs, which was another issue, too.

I could have eaten even more though. But I don't get the whole eat until your stuffed mantra either. It seems so unnatural and unhealthy.

Getting enough sleep is important as well. Anecdotally, I have experienced subpar lifting performance when I average less than 8.5 hours/night for a few days.

I also plateaued on Squats during SS after about 4 months, so I lowered my work weight to 80% during my middle squat day (Wednesday in a MWF routine), as Rippetoe suggests, and I immediately broke out of it.

Assuming you are younger than 35 and starting essentially untrained then if you only gained 10 lbs after several months you weren't eating nearly enough.

I'm 38 and have been weight lifting on and off for around 20 years, but never was very successful at it. I think I maxed around a 225 bench at one point, but now I'm much less than that.

Anyway, I just discovered HIIT training, which has made a world of difference. I'm actually gaining strength and mass every time I work out, and I'm eating less now than I did on SS.

SS works for some people, but I think it depends on your genetics. Or maybe your right and I'm not eating enough. However, my system just can't handle that much food without GI problems. Also, I was getting a big fat belly along with it.

HIIT training has been working for me and after 2 months the gains are still there and better than those I was getting on SS. There also is more evidence that it works than SS has, I believe. Like I posted on another thread, checkout the boise experiment: http://boiseexperiment.com/HeavyDuty/?page_id=308

Anyway, each to his own.

I'm also doing Mentzer's workout.

Even though it is only one set per workout, that set tends to be pretty painful. ;)

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